Storytelling and other forms of narration have always been a popular form of entertainment and education. Among the earliest forms of these are oral narration, song, written communication, theater, and printed publications.
Recently, computer games have been created that allow users to control the actions of a character situated in a virtual environment, such as a cave or a castle. A player must control his/her character to interact with other characters, negotiate obstacles, and choose a path to take within the virtual environment.
Various types of children's educational software have also been developed that allow children to interact with a storytelling environment on a computer. For example, LivingBooks® has developed a type of “interactive book” that divides a story into several scenes, and after playing a short animated clip for each scene, allows a child to manipulate various elements in the scene (e.g., “point-and-click” with a mouse) to play short animations or gags. Other types of software provide children with tools to express their own feelings and emotions by creating their own stories. In addition to having entertainment value, interactive storytelling has proven to be a powerful tool for developing the language, social, and cognitive skills of young children.
However, one problem associated with such software is that children are usually required to use either a keyboard or a mouse in order to interact. Such input devices must be held in a particular way and require a certain amount of hand-eye coordination, and therefore may be very difficult to use for younger children. Furthermore, a very important part of the early cognitive development of children is dealing with their physical environment. An interface that encourages children to interact by “playing” is advantageous over the conventional keyboard and mouse interface, because it is more beneficial from an educational perspective, it is more intuitive and easy to use, and playing provides a greater motivation for children to participate in the learning process. Also, an interface that expands the play area (i.e., area in which children can interact), as well as allowing children to interact with objects they normally play with, can encourage more playful interaction.